Letter and bill file



(No Model.) 1

W. H.- KING. LETTER AND" BILL FILE.

Patented Jan. '4, 1887'.

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UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM HANFORD KING, OF LITTLE SILVER, NEW JEESEY' LETTER AND BILL FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 355,614,' dated January 4, 1887.

Application filed September 18, {1886. Serial No. 218,931. (No model.)

T 0; whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HANFORD KING, of Little Silver, in the county of Monmouth and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Letter and Bill File, of which the following is alfull, clear and exact description; y

My invention relates to a file adapted for use in filing letters, invoices, bills of lading, receipts, advertisements, ships manifests, or other papers or documents, and has for its object to provide a simple inexpensive file of this character, on which the papers may be quickly placed for reference, and from which they or any of them may be as easily removed, the file also allowing the papers on it to be bound at any time, as may be desired or necessary.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts of the file, all as hereinafter fully described and claimed. 4

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, iorming apart of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure l is a plan view of my improved letter and bill file,with the hinged headpiece .and its pins swung upward and backward to allow papers to be placed on the file or to be removed therefrom; and Fig. 2 is an edge view of the file, showing the head-piece swung down or over into normal position for holdingpapers on the file, and with its other position indicated in dotted lines, a few letters or papers also being shown on the file.

The back or base A of the file has fixed to its lower or inner edge abar or foot-piece, B,

in which the parts 0 O of the file wires or pins are fixed so as to project about parallel with the base and a short distance from it. The other parts, D D, of the file-pins are fixed to a head-piece, E; which has lugs e e, which pass between lugs to a on the base A of the file, and pins F, passed through thelugs ea a at each side edge of the top or head of the base, form,with the lugs, hinges onwhich the head-piece E and its pins D D may be swung over upward and backward, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1 and in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

Projections or studs 6" on the head-piece lugs e are adapted to strike the inclined back edges of the baselugs a, to limit the swinging movement of the headpiece in either direction, but more especially when the head-piece is swung down forward to close the file. A spring, G, fixed at one end to the base A, acts by its free end on the two right-angularly disposed faces of the back end of one of the headpiece lugs to hold the head-piece in either of its two positions-in other words, to hold the file open or closed. a

The meeting ends of the two parts G D of the file-pins are preferably beveled to cause the ends of the pins to exactly coincide when the file is closed and allow the letters, bills, or papers H placed on the file to be moved freely along the pins over or past the joints of the ends of the pins, as may be required in examining or adjusting the papers.

I provide a retainer to hold the papers H snugly together on the file-pins. This retainer is preferably an angular plate, I, the face or part a of which rests on. the papers to hold them together, while the other face or part, i, of the retainer lies fiat upon the base A of the file. When it is desired to extend the retainer above or beyond the file-pins, the partt' ofthe retainerwill have open slits or slots 0 c in its edge to allow the upper part, D, of the filepins to rise from the base A as the head-piece E of the file is swung over, backward with its pins D; but, if desired, the part iof the retainer need not extend quite to the file-pins,

as indicated by the dotted line i in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

The base A is provided with a slot, J, in

which is fitted loosely a bolt, K, which has a the file to cause its part z to bear on the papers thereon and hold them snugly together on the filepins and to the base-piece B of the file.

To place the papers H on the file, the headpiece E will beswung over backward with its pins D, as in full linesin Fig. l and in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and when the retainer I is slid along clear of the pins 0 the papers will be stuck on these pins. The head-piece will then be swung over forward to close the ends of the pins D onto the ends of the pins 0 to lock the papers onto the file, and the retainer I will then he slid down onto the papers and tightened by the set-screw to hold the papers together, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

When the set-screw L is loosened,\ the re- I der as before and may be held snugly together by the retainer.

To allow all the papers on the file to be bound at any stated times, I- purpose making the pins D D hollow, as shown in Fig. 1. To allow the ends of a lacing-cord to be passed through these pins after the papers are moved onto the pins and when the papers are withdrawn together, the cord will be looped through them, ready for tying, to complete the binding of the papers; or, instead of making the pins D hollow, as above described, I may form eyes din them, near their points, and through which eyes. the opposite ends of the binding-cord may be passed after the papers are slipped onto the-pins D and the file is opened, and when the papers are withdrawn from the pins the ends of the binding-cord may be pulled from the pin-eyes and be tied at the back of the package of papers through which the cord had been laced as the papers were withdrawn from the pins.

It will be noticed from Fig. 2 of the drawings that the head-piece E does not project be hind or beneath the back of the base A of the file, whether the file be open or closed; hence papers may be placed on or taken from the file while it lies fiat on a desk or table or against aside wall. Furthermore, the extension of the headpiece E clear across the head of the file affords a bed across which the papers may lie smoothly should they be turned over backward in using the file, and the front edge of the base-piece B afiords a like support on which the papers may rest smoothly.

I show the file made with two pins or pairs of coinciding pins, 0 D but one pair or three or more pairs of these pins may be used, as the size of the papers to be filed may require. If preferred, the head-piece may be pivoted to the base A by ordinary butt-hinges.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A letter and bill file comprising a base, A, fixed pins 0, supported therefrom and about parallel thereto, a hinged head-piece, E, and pins D, fixed therein and coinciding with the pins 0 when the file is closed, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, in a letter and bill file, of a base, A, a foot-piece, B, fixed theretD, pins 0, fixed in the foot-piece, a headpiece, E, hinged to the base A, and pins D, fixed in the head piece and coinciding with the pins 0 when the file is closed, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, in a letter and bill file comprising a base, A, and hinged head-piece E, and pinsD in part E, of stop-studs e on.the headpiece and a spring, G, holding the headpiece in position with the file, either open or closed, substantially as shown and described.

4:. A letter and bill file comprising abase, A, foot-piece B, fixed pins 0, a hinged headpiece, E, andpins D therein, coinciding with the pins 0 when the file is closed, and said pinsD made hollow to allow binding of the papers on file, substantially as shown and described- 5. In a letter and bill file, the combination, with the base A, slotted at J, and the file-pins C D, of a retainer, I, and a bolt and set-screw, K L, substantially as shown and described.

WILLIAM HANFORD KING.

WVitnesses:

W. F. DURHAM, THOS. DAVIS, Jr. 

